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tealinDay 23 of my Lent project. For background, please read this.
A reading from the Gospel according to the GOP:
Luke 12:22-34
He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, how much more will he clothe you —you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
'Lilies of the Field' has always been one of my favourite Gospel passages, and one which has, in a cumulative way over a great deal of time, worked to dismantle my inherited existential anxiety and re-formed my lifestyle from the ground up. Ironically, it achieved this central place in my psyche not through Bible study or religious education, but because it appears in Fahrenheit 451, a very formative book of my teenage years. I suspect it was on the Grade 9 curriculum in Utah schools because it's the only prominent mid-20th-century dystopian classic that doesn't prominently feature sex, and the school board hadn't noticed how much it subverted the morally outraged anti-intellectual consumerist values that reigned. There's a scene where Montag, the fireman, whose job in the age of flame-proof houses is to burn collections of illegally hoarded books, happens to have caught a glimpse of this passage in the course of his work, and it goes round and round his head while he travels in a subway car filled with shouting advertisements. That scene has a way of sticking with you. This is the one reading I absolutely, definitely want read at my funeral.
A reading from the Gospel according to the GOP:
He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, worrying about the necessaries of life is essential to the success of the nation. Striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink is the lifeblood of the economy; paying for these necessities drives people to work, and keeps the merchants in business, who are then able to pay for their own food and drink. If these were provided freely, consider how large sectors of the economy would collapse! And if you are worried about clothing, then go out and work for your clothing, or learn to make it yourself, and in so doing, acquire marketable skills. The uncertainty of medical provision encourages you to strive for, and stay in, a well-paying job which offers comprehensive medical benefits, and as such, this worry serves to prolong your life and make it a healthier one. Then once you are fed and clothed, you can begin worrying about enjoying your life, and supporting the leisure and luxury goods sector. Behold how worry is the foundation of prosperity! Blessed are the worriers, for those who worry most will work hardest, and earn the greatest reward from your Father in heaven."
Luke 12:22-34
He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, how much more will he clothe you —you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
'Lilies of the Field' has always been one of my favourite Gospel passages, and one which has, in a cumulative way over a great deal of time, worked to dismantle my inherited existential anxiety and re-formed my lifestyle from the ground up. Ironically, it achieved this central place in my psyche not through Bible study or religious education, but because it appears in Fahrenheit 451, a very formative book of my teenage years. I suspect it was on the Grade 9 curriculum in Utah schools because it's the only prominent mid-20th-century dystopian classic that doesn't prominently feature sex, and the school board hadn't noticed how much it subverted the morally outraged anti-intellectual consumerist values that reigned. There's a scene where Montag, the fireman, whose job in the age of flame-proof houses is to burn collections of illegally hoarded books, happens to have caught a glimpse of this passage in the course of his work, and it goes round and round his head while he travels in a subway car filled with shouting advertisements. That scene has a way of sticking with you. This is the one reading I absolutely, definitely want read at my funeral.
